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It has been approximately a month since Wesley de Oliveira Quirino was hired by the Ramacrisna Institute. Now he is a cello instructor at the Orchestra and helps new students learn to play the instrument and live the music.
More than his place of work, for Wesley, the Institute was responsible for transforming his life and brought, in addition to knowledge, new perspectives on life.
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Born in São Paulo, Wesley moved to Betim as a child, in the company of four of his brothers. After class, her sister would go to the Institute with her schoolmates. It was there that she got to know the projects and invited the brothers to join Ramacrisna.
“She told us that the children played soccer, took craft classes and received lunch and snacks. Then I decided to go and fell in love with the place at first sight”, says Wesley. So, at the age of 7, he joined the Ramacrisna Educational Support Center (CAER), a project in which he stayed for almost 8 years.
It was at this time that Wesley attended a performance by the Ramacrisna Youth Orchestra and was delighted to see other children and teenagers playing. So he asked the conductor if he could be a part of the project. But, for lack of interest, it ended up taking a while to look for him. “It took me a long time, but when I decided to go after it, I fell in love with all the instruments”.
In his first stint with the Orchestra, Wesley played the stick trombone, a wind instrument. But, a short time later, there was a change of employees and he ended up distancing himself from the project, staying only at CAER.
After about 3 years, Wesley participated in a new audition for the Orchestra. That’s when the opportunity arose to learn to play the cello, an instrument in which he is a professional.
“That’s when the desire to pick up the cello arose and a great passion for the instrument emerged. I’ve been a cellist in the orchestra for 8 years now. Today I am a music teacher and cello chief. It was a real revolution in my life.”
Wesley defines the Institute as a house, responsible for opening the doors to his artistic and financial life. “When I didn’t know music, I got involved with heavy things, with drug dealing and I did a lot of wrong things. But Ramacrisna was shaping me, teaching me the steps of life and that changed me a lot”, she says.
For him, the song acted as a turning point, allowing for a change from the inside out. Today, Wesley considers himself a renowned musician who has performed with great names, such as the guitar player Chico Lobo.
“It’s very gratifying to work with other teenagers, knowing that I’ve been through the same situations they go through. Many people come to talk to me and ask me how I got here and I can take the word of Ramacrisna. I can show that they can conquer what I conquered”, he says.
For the future, Wesley dreams of becoming an even more recognized musician, with international fame, as a successful cellist thanks to Ramacrisna. In addition to being able to continue teaching young musicians and showing them that it is possible to make dreams come true.
Wesley is just one of the nearly 2 million lives we’ve helped change! And you can help us continue to make a difference for children, teenagers and young people in 13 cities in the metropolitan region. Learn how to donate.
